“No, sir. You could probably get her on her cell. She’s working on that robbery case and tracking down witnesses for Agent Johnson. Want me to give her a message?”
“No need. I’ll catch her later.”
He would call Louisa that evening after he talked to Bean, he decided. They’d have more to discuss, and she might offer some good insights into the case. The woman was smart, and besides that, he missed her. Maybe even more than the cat did.
Leaphorn called promptly at six, and Bean answered on the second ring.
“I thought you were calling an hour from now. Six o’clock.”
“Six here.”
“Well, whatever. This is a good time to talk.” Bean paused. “Listen, I’ll try to spell things out so you don’t have to ask too many questions.”
“Kay.”
“So, Joe, your luck holds. I tracked the box to the Winslow, Arizona, post office. I found out who was working that day. Six people. The first three I talked to didn’t recall anything. A couple of them barely remembered coming to work that day.” He chuckled. “But with the fourth person, I think we hit the jackpot.”
Leaphorn was pleased to hear Bean say “we.”
“This guy is one of our veteran employees, Arnold Sakiestewa. He recalled a woman struggling with a big box when he was headed out to his car for lunch. He helped her haul it in. Here’s the best part. You still listening?”
“Ya.”
“He commented on the box being heavy, and she said, yes, it has a lifetime of memories inside. Cool, huh?”
“Ya. Aoo’.”
“Anyway, I asked Sakiestewa if he knew the woman and he said . . .” Bean paused with his natural storyteller’s drama. “He said she comes in three or four times a week to check her box for mail. With a little finagling, I got her name. Mary Nestor. I emailed you the address and phone number we have on file for her, and Arnold’s info, too, in case you want to talk to him directly or have Louisa do it. I hope this helps.”
Leaphorn felt the old, sweet pleasure of moving forward in a case. His spirits lifted. “Tanks ahéhee’.”
“My pleasure. Tell Louisa hello for me.”
“Beckfst on me nest time.”
“It’s a deal. Take care.”
After Bean hung up, Leaphorn smiled. He debated whether to retreat into his office and immediately check his email, but he made the call to Flagstaff he’d been putting off. He dialed Louisa on the kitchen phone before he could talk himself out of it, wishing his English were better or her Navajo stronger. The problems they’d had communicating, he thought, led to all sorts of irritations. And if he was annoyed with her, he figured it was probably mutual.
“Yá’át’ééh.”
“Yá’át’ééh yourself. It’s nice to hear your voice. How are you?”
“Kay.” It was nice to hear hers, too.
“Are you making progress on Mrs. Pinto’s case?”
“Tink so. Bean gay me da name of a suspec.” He hated the ignorant way he sounded.
“That’s wonderful.”
“How ya doin?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Tired. The more exposure I have to campus politics now, the more I’m glad to be a lowly consultant. But I realize how much I miss the interaction with faculty, as quirky as they are, and the energy and optimism of college students. It’s great to be back here, at least in that respect.”
He waited for her to say something else, something like she’d be glad to get home.
“They’ve invited me to work with some honors classes in the fall. I’m not sure I want to, but I’m flattered to be asked. I told them I’d like to hear what the proposal is. They set up a meeting tomorrow for that.”
“Den home?”
“Ah, Joe, I don’t know. I still have to do some thinking.”
“Giddi misses you. Slept wid me.” He thought of saying, I miss you, too, but she must have known that already.
“Give her a pat for me.”
“Kay.” He heard noise in the background and then Louisa again.
“I’ve got to go. Julie and I—you remember her—are catching a movie. Be sure to feed the cat and make sure there’s water. And speaking of that, could you check the houseplants? If they start to droop, you know what to do.”
“Kay.”
She said good-bye and was gone.
13
Leaphorn went to his office and found the inspector’s email. As promised, Bean provided Mary Nestor’s Winslow address and a phone number. He wished he had checked before he called Louisa so he could have asked her to help translate a telephone conversation tomorrow. But, he realized, there was no way to do it while his housemate stayed in Flagstaff.
Who could substitute? He considered Jessica from the Window Rock station. He needed to call her tomorrow anyway to thank her for the Begaye accident report and tell her how helpful it was.
Then, as was his longtime habit before he went to bed, he made notes on the progress of the case and added “Call Jessica to help with Nestor interview” to his to-do list. It joined “Consider how to approach Mary Nestor re anonymity” and “Confirm meeting with Rita Begaye.”
He set up coffee for the morning, as he had done in the pre-Louisa days, and settled in to watch the ten o’clock news. He was marveling at how the weatherman mentioned the severity of the drought and, in the next segment, referred to the coming clear, sunny days as “nice weather” when the cell phone rang. Chee’s voice reminded him that he’d ignored the sergeant’s call earlier and not even listened to the message he’d left.
“Sir, am I calling too late?”
“Almost. What can I do for you?”
“Largo told me that you decided not to work with the rookie.” Chee stopped there.
“That’s right.”
“He wants me to do it.”
“You know that guy. You’ve already spent time with him. You can hit the ground running.”
“You’re right about knowing him.” Chee cleared his throat. “I think that could be a problem. I don’t have an open mind.”
Leaphorn took the cell phone into the bedroom. “Sergeant, do you think Sam has what it takes to become a good officer?”
“I’m not sure. He’s energetic, he’s smart enough, and he works hard. But frankly, he’s too cocky and he doesn’t listen to good advice. I may have been that way, too. It seems to come with being young.”
You had your faults, Leaphorn thought, but arrogance wasn’t one of them. And in his mind, Chee was still young. “Largo obviously believes he has potential or he wouldn’t have asked you to spend time with the man. If I were you, I’d find out why he wanted to be a cop in the first place. Ask what he sees himself doing a year from now, then five years from now. That might give you some clues as to how to bring him along.”
Leaphorn could almost hear Chee thinking. “There’s something else on your mind, Sergeant. Go ahead.”
“Largo may not have seen this side of the rookie, but I know about it because of Bernie. I suggested that she bring it up with the captain, but, well, you know her. She wants to handle it herself.”